A report to
the Fairfield City Council Tuesday night concerning the condition of the
electrical system in the city…..was bleak. The numbers are frightening.
Here are the
highlights….The power plant needs to be de-commissioned. Three gas powered back-up
generators within it need to go away.
The 28-mile
back-up power line needs to also go away. It’s too costly to maintain. Besides,
it makes no sense when the city can enter into an agreement with Wayne White
Coop and connect a 2.6 mile line to their metering point north of town.
A consultant
told the city council there were numerous other maintenance issues. The cost
for the essential projects? $7-million dollars. And by the way, that doesn’t
include a sub-station that might need to be replaced. That’s another
$3-million.
All the TIF
money is gone. The city is broke. If they barrow $7-to-10-million dollars, even
level pay will become a monthly hit on everyone’s budget.
The city’s
current contract with its power supplier is locked in until 2035. But there is
a way Fairfield can keep ownership of the system contracting with someone else
to maintain it.
I think, at
the very least, that is what needs to happen.
Whatever it
takes to keep power bills affordable in Fairfield. People on each end of the
age spectrum can’t afford more.
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